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Hello John,
I just watched a recent interview where Federer described how he would play with both hands on forehands and backhands at a very young age. He would use his father's heavy racket and swing the racket with the help of his whole body. Imagine if he had started to play at the age of 16. Let's assume he plays everyday for 10 years, he puts in his 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. It is interesting to guess how strong a player he would have been. My guess is that he would have been challenger level, just shy of the top 100. What do you think?

Norman Ashbrooke

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I just watched a very interesting video on YouTube where Roger Federer was hitting with an eight year old. The kid actually looked small for his age, and his technique was quite similar to Federer's. The kid was using his body to swing his arm and racket. The youngster was clearly an outstanding player. I have seen videos of Federer playing at a very young age, and this kid played in a similar manner. I believe it is possible to learn a great deal by studying the technique of highly skilled youngsters.

Norman Ashbrooke

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Torso rotation is trickier on the one-hander. With the closed stance common in pro players the turn is extreme. Although I wouldn't say the back faces the net. There is definitely some forward rotation, but it terms of executing the stroke, it's less extreme at the extension than say the forehand. It does and should continue though in the deceleration phase and to position for recovery.
The danger I think is over emphasizing it in the forward swing.

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Had this very discussion with RL this week. He insists the rotation is fine, but the arm must drive through the ball.

Torso rotation uses centrifugal force to unfurl the arm to drive through the ball, followed by hand rotation and continued torso rotation to avoid any deceleration at contact. Hard to balance use of the torso to initiate, block and then release when sequencing out the smaller arm muscles without decelerating. I unlearned old school and obtained the new school stroke at age 50( took a year), but overplayed the rotation which resulted in injury. I made the same mistake with the golf driver. Training a beginner “blank slate” player’s strokes primarily using only JY’s key checkpoints through video visualization would be interesting.

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Hello John,
Great video on the arm rotation on a one handed backhand. When I watch the players prepare their backhands it is obvious that their back is facing the net. When they complete the shot, their chest is facing the net. It is clear that there is a good deal of torso rotation that propels the racket arm and racket into the ball. The torso being the heaviest part of the body would seem like an ideal source of power. The core muscles would be involved in unleashing tremendous power into the backhand. This would be something like throwing a medicine ball. The core muscles are used to hurl the heavy ball. The problem in tennis is that the racket is so light, people use their arm to swing in ineffectual ways. It is interesting to note that many world class players use medicine balls in their training. Their intention is to strengthen their core muscles which in turn will empower their strokes. It is also interesting to remember that all great players began to play at a very young age. At a time when the racket would seem quite heavy and unwieldy. These toddlers would instinctively use their bodies to swing their full sized rackets since their arms would be far too weak. Picture a two year old Ken Rosewall or Jimmy Conners swinging a racket or better yet a three year old Roger Federer. These great players began to play shortly after learning to walk. I would like to start a discussion on the significance of torso rotation for improved ball striking and also injury prevention.

Sincerely,

Norman Ashbrooke

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While observing from the rear, I noticed that those pros with a backhand 90+ rotation oftentimes hit some sidespin with their topspin on down the line shots which resulted in a slight curving path in the air toward the sideline. Kind of hard to catch that curved flight with a camera.

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Fantastic article explaining the role of the shoulder as the prime mover of a unitary arm. This article helped explain to me how easy it might be for segments to overplay their role in the movement. The complexity of the sequencing reinforces the importance of teaching correct sequencing to a “ no muscle memory” beginner, while using a “soft hand” to allow individual style and not subject the player to intense analysis. Those of us trying to unlearn old muscle memory, while thinking we can can learn this new muscle memory within a few years without injury( if at all), may be in for a surprise.

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Long rotational axis from the shoulder shows why contact with a straight but not locked arm is the best biomedical key.All topspin shots and serves should contain either an external or internal rotation from the shoulder.